The launch of the WPI Data Science Program in the fall of 2014 far exceeded anyone’s expectations! The Data Science Steering Committee had initially hoped to attract perhaps 10 strong students; but in the end they were forced to turn away more than a hundred very talented applicants. They selected 30 of the very best and most promising students from 9 countries, and just like that, the program was off to a spectacular start. During opening statements, German born Program Director Elke Rundensteiner commented that although faculty and students are from so many disparate parts of the globe, they are united by a desire to excel in Data Science… and by their student-designed Data Science.